Did you notice how similar the words of our text were to the opening words of the first verse? Probably not, but they are almost word for word.

"Been there, done that." I haven't heard that phrase in a while, but it was what the people who wanted to be cool would say. "C'mon give me something I don't know, I've never experienced. Been there, done that. Ho hum."

But this isn't a case of "Been there, done that." Or even, "I couldn't think of anything new to say, so I just repeated myself." No, when God repeats these lines through the writer of Jonah, it has an amazingly gracious feel to it.

A second time. It's like he's caught in a time warp. Everything repeats itself. Then the Word of the Lord came to Jonah, Arise go to Nineveh, the great city and proclaim to it the proclamation I will give you. That's pretty much what it says, both times. This is good. It's good for Jonah, it's good for Nineveh, and it's good for us.

First of all, this is good for Jonah. Jonah, as we have been hearing for the last several weeks has been busy running from God. He was told to get up and go to Nineveh, and he got up and went-in the other direction. He charters a boat, a crew, and heads off for Tarshish-for as long as it would take to get God to drop this silly call.

The Lord was a little more serious about this than Jonah had thought, or at least hoped. Chartering a boat, didn't get God to drop the call. Instead, God pursues Him out into the Mediterranean Sea, hurling a great storm that only got worse.

Jonah on the other hand, when he was told to get up continues in a downward motion. He goes deep down into the hold of the ship, and when he finally comes up from there, tells the crew what he is doing, then he goes down even deeper, into the depths of the sea, where he pretty well experiences death.

But the Lord is not done with him. Jonah thought he dodged Him, but he didn't. The Lord appoints a fish to swallow him, which is actually a rescue.

Interesting that Jonah is rescued by a fish. If you think about it, Jonah is brought to life by a fish. He was dead and then alive again, and the rescue comes by a fish.

This is what has happened to us. I remember reading this passage from a pastor who lived in N. Africa in the second century. He was defending the importance of baptism and talking about how we are like little fish who can never leave the water behind. We must live in our baptisms. But if we are little fish, then the big fish is Jesus, just as you may have heard it said we are like little Christs.

I'm sure you have seen the symbol of a fish adorning the back of people's cars. You may even have one of the back of your car. I do. These car emblems have been around so long, some of these have sprouted legs, and are used to push atheistic evolution and Darwinism, but the fish symbol is an ancient one, much older than our car stickers.

I've heard it said that a fish was a secret symbol to announce that you were a Christian. One person would draw in the dust a half circle, and another recognizing it would draw another half circle, making a fish. It sounds believable.

The fish symbol also come from an acrostic, that is the first letters of a group of words. The Greek name for fish is ichthus, and the first letters of the words, Jesus Christ, God's Son, Savior. Again, the first letter of the Greek word spells out ichthus. So, whether it is just this, or also the secret symbol, a fish is a symbol used for Jesus. Therefore, we can say a fish rescued Jonah, just as a fish has rescued us.

A fish has rescued you from certain doom, a condition we were born into called original sin. Like Jonah we were dead, but a great fish, Jesus Christ, has rescued us. He brought us from a living death, a life of separation from the author of life, and connected us to life again.

As you know, it was not an easy rescue. It took His death and suffering in hell, but even before that, it took his emptying of Himself. He was born of a woman. Conceived of the Holy Spirit.

I bring out this detail because although it was a critical step in the rescue, today is the day we celebrate it. March 25th is the day the church recognizes that Gabriel came and announced to Mary she would have a child, that would be none other than the great fish, Jesus. As He announces it, the Virgin Mary conceives Him by the Holy Spirit. Jesus has begun life as a man, swimming as all of us do, in His mother's womb. Nine months later, it is announced to the world that God is here on earth in the flesh, already has been for nine months, and now He is born. The great fish, Ichthus, continues His journey to the cross to rescue us little fish.

Is it a wonder, then, that God sent a fish to rescue Jonah?

And now, even though we have gone on to the third chapter, the call comes back to us.

Jonah was faced with an unpleasant call. It confronted his sinfulness, and he did everything he could to deny it. Do we? We sit here, having heard all these other pastors preaching on Jonah. Surely we realize Jonah is not only a real character who actually lived, he is also us. We are Jonah.

What unpleasant calls have we tried to ignore? We may have felt the need to tell others about Jesus, basically as Jonah was called to do, but that is not all it could be. Jonah's call to preach to Assyria's capital city was more than just an unpleasant activity for him. It exposed his hatred for the Assyrians.

What has been exposed about you, that you feel compelled to run from it? This is why we have this series for Lent. It forces us to confront ourselves. Lent is that time when we examine ourselves and see our need for baptism.

Whether Jonah actually came to grips with it is debatable, but finally he is obedient. The Word of the Lord comes to Jonah a second time. God in His mercy, has not given up on Jonah. He comes to Him a second time.

It was not only for Jonah's benefit, but it was even more so for the benefit of Nineveh. They are going to get to hear the Word of the Lord. Two groups of pagans hear the Word of the Lord, both of them through Jonah.

The first was the crew of sailors. They were calling on their gods, and wanted Jonah to call on his. When he confesses who he is and more importantly whom he worships, the Holy Spirit creates faith in the heart of these men and they come to faith.

Now, Nineveh is to experience the same kind of grace and mercy. Why Nineveh? This is the very people who in less than about 50 years is going to destroy Israel. They will be instruments in God's hand to judge His people, but why has Nineveh been selected to receive God's mercy? Surely they could bring judgment on Israel without being shown mercy themselves.

Interestingly, by the way, there are little clues that they will be shown mercy. In the first call to Jonah he was told to preach against Nineveh. In the second one, only clear by looking at the Hebrew, he is told to preach to Nineveh. Also the word for overthrown, as in "Nineveh will be overthrown" doesn't necessarily mean destroyed. It means to be overturned or changed, and that is God's goal all along.

But why Nineveh? Jesus answered it when He was speaking to Nicodemus, "The wind blows where it wishes." The answer, We don't know why. All we can do is repeat what Jesus says here or what the Lord had said to Moses, "I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will show show mercy to those whom I show mercy." The foundational document of the Lutheran church when it comes to explaining how the Scriptures are to be understood says pretty much the same thing, "Through the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Spirit is given. He works faith, when and where it pleases God, in those who hear the good news." It's not an answer. It just says, "Grace."

Nineveh was selected to be shown grace. Plain and simple. It looked like they would not get that chance, because Jonah was ignoring his call to preach to them, and even seemed to choose death over obedience, but their chance finally came. They would be shown mercy. God saw to it.

That was good for Nineveh, but this whole story is good for us. We see God's persistent pursuit after Jonah.

Jonah hated the Assyrians. His hatred was blocking him from understanding what God's grace meant and thus enjoying it. He didn't want Jonah to go through life not enjoying that grace. So He confronts Jonah's sin. And when Jonah tries to run from it, God persists.

So, why have you been privileged with all this? Why are you called a child of God? Why you and not someone else? Why were you born in a country that doesn't persecute Christians, where the Gospel is preached freely? If you have always been raised as a Christian, why were you raised in a family like that? Is it anything you have done? No, it is purely God's grace. It is God's grace that you have been given eternal life.

Furthermore, why does God bother to confront you with your sin? Why do we keep getting this message week after week, not just during Lent, but every Sunday as well? Why does He keep giving us second chances, not only to repent but to hear about our sin? Because He loves us and wants us to be open to His gifts. We may not consider it gracious to hear about our sin, and to hear about it again, but without hearing it, His gifts of life are meaningless. Jesus did not come for the healthy but for the sick. If we don't realize we are sick, though, then His healing has little value for us.

So through Pastor McManus and these guest pastors, including myself, God speaks to you to show you your sin, and does it again and again, all so you can see your need, repent and live.

AMEN